


Sometimes it takes a forest

by Lovepepperpoppers



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, NOT dealing with feelings, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22588570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovepepperpoppers/pseuds/Lovepepperpoppers
Summary: It’s going to be a routine Friday night for Shane until it’s suddenly not, and Shane’s not ready for change. Perhaps Cindersap has something to say about that. In which all problems can be solved with a bit of forest magic.
Relationships: Shane/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	Sometimes it takes a forest

“Friday at last, Friday at last, thank Yoba it’s Friday at last!” Shane was not above singing while peeling off his Joja uniform. He was going as fast as he could manage without ripping the threadbare areas on the sleeves to shreds. The last thing he needed was his paycheck to be docked for another piece of cheap Joja trash. This didn’t stop him from crumpling it up and shoving it in his locker though. Monday Shane could deal with the wrinkles just like Monday Shane had to deal with lots of shit. He took a furtive glance around the employee area before slipping out the side door before Morris could find some reason to keep him late. He had a date with a pint glass and with a bit of luck maybe the Farmer would be there to split a pizza with. He threw up his hood and shoved his hands in his pockets against the frosty air glad not for the last time that the Stardrop was so close to work.

He was so close he could practically hear the foam sparkling out of the taps when he saw Marnie standing by the saloon doors. Shane stopped, his eyes narrowing, wondering why she didn’t wait for him inside. Marnie cleared the distance between them herself and while still smiling in that way that made Shane uneasy she waved a canvas bag at him. He took ahold of it more out of reflex than anything while his brain stupidly tried to abort whatever was happening as it almost certainly didn’t have anything to do with his next beer. The weight of the thing surprised him and it mimicked the one in his gut forecasting an untimely end to his beer filled plans. “You’ll have to fix the Farmer’s coop heater” she said giving him a quick wink and heading into the saloon. Shane just stood there with his brain still bubbling. “Buh” he managed finally but Marnie was long gone no doubt already occupied with Lewis if that wink was anything to go by. Shane seethed a bit but knew better than to blow this off. This weather could be hell on the chickens and the thought of the farmer’s new hatchlings not making it through the night was enough to get him turned around away from the warm glow and headed towards the Farm.

He should have gone straight through town, but Shane was a creature of habit and instead took the long way down through Cindersap. He felt unbalanced changing his schedule last minute and thought the walk would help steady him before he made an ass of himself in front of the farmer...again. She’d been patient with him and kinder than he deserved given how he treated her when she first came here, but Shane knew better than most that no one had unlimited patience especially when he was involved. He breathed in deeply and watched as dusk fell in great dark purple swaths across the sky. A thin fog was starting to wisp around the topmost branches of the pines, he always thought of it as the trees exhaling, but he couldn’t remember where he heard that. Maybe it was just a weird idea he got into his head when he was a kid. The air was quiet and heavy save for the crisp sounds of the snow crunching underfoot. He knew he should probably be more wary of the place given it’s reputation, but even the darkness felt soft to him. He had spent so much time out here at his worst that the forest seemed sympathetic somehow, like a friend. A deep mournful cry rang out as Shane entered the southern gate. “You and me both, buddy” he said under his breath into the night.

The farmer was already in the coop throwing down some new straw. Small pieces of it were floating lazily down, many collecting in the farmer’s messy hair. Shane couldn’t help giving his sweatshirt a quick brush with his hands in sympathy. “Hey” she said quickly running a hand through her hair, but only managing to knock off a few flakes. He jostled the bag at her and she jerked her thumb back at the defunct heater before breezing past him to undoubtedly finish up more farm work before night fell. “Thanks!” Came from the rapidly closing door. Shane frowned for a moment wishing she wasn’t quite so used to him being an ass. He _had_ intended to do better this time. Henneth clucked at him disapprovingly from her nesting box. “I know, I know get to work” he said settling down in the cleanest looking spot he could manage next to the heater. “BAK-AWWW” she responded obviously not satisfied. “And I’ll make it up to her” he whispered as Henneth, seemingly content, settled in for the night. _Eventually_ , he thought, before grabbing a screwdriver out of the bag.

Shane fumbled with the last of the screws. Once secure he held his breath and groped around the unit until he felt the switch click. It kicked on into a steady humm and even though it was a simple part swap it still gave him a rush of pleasure that something in his life worked. Shane brushed the dust off his knees and checked over the now sound asleep hens and chicks as waves of heat started to radiate from the unit. He grabbed his bag to head out but his fingers hesitated on the coop door. Before he had time to compose himself the door flew back from his fingertips and he had found himself face to face with the Farmer. She had ditched the overalls for a clean dress and her hair was now damp and free of straw. Shane smiled to himself glad to see her ready to relax for a change. She usually stopped by the Stardrop to chat and grab a bite to eat with him but rarely did she have time to clean up first. He was thinking he might get that pizza after all when his plans for the night got derailed again. “I have dinner cooking if you want to join me, It’s the least I could do after all that” she gestured at the heater before tugging on his arm. Shane stumbled stepping out of the coop still feeling disoriented by yet another change in his routine as they made their way together to the cabin.

Shane relaxed back in his chair and approvingly admired a chicken statue the Farmer had placed in the corner of her kitchen. He’d been in her house before once or twice coming by on other errands from Marnie, but this the the first time he’d had a chance to look around. It was cozy especially with the fireplace giving the place a cheerful glow and radiant heat. The farmer bustled around laying out plates of root vegetables, rice, and a large platter of spicy eel. The oven opened and Shane looked up enticed by the aroma of fresh baked pepper poppers. She spooned the still sizzling poppers on a platter next to him and gave his reaching hand a smack before sitting down herself. Not that he really needed the reminder of the last disastrous time he tried to pop a fresh baked popper in his mouth. Entranced by the poppers he hadn’t realized she was filling up his plate until it was in front of him and happily began filling her own.

Shane admired the table with its mismatched dishes and small vase of tiny sunflowers and felt suddenly awkward. When was the last time he had ate a real dinner at a table as opposed to in front of a microwave? He took a long drink of his iced tea forcing down any memories trying to surface there. Anyhow he’s had the farmers cooking lots of times. It was a local joke that you couldn’t leave your house without her chucking a dish at your head, but there was something different about sharing a meal in her home. He bit into a popper and looked over at her smiling at him a wide toothy smile. “Wow that’s good” he made out between bites and before he knew it the dessert dishes were in the sink, it was well past closing time at the saloon, and he was standing at the door with the farmer chatting like they did this everyday.

He hesitated again by the door, this time because he knew that waiting for him outside was only the cold dark walk to his grubby room. As if seeing his hesitation the farmer’s hand lightly rested on his and her thumb ran slowly along the inside of his palm. Shane flushed, feeling unsteady and sleepy despite all the glasses of iced tea. She took ahold of his other hand as well and her fingers slowly slid under the cuff of his hoodie and across his wrist where every hair she brushed twanged like an over tightened string. She was saying something now, but he had stopped breathing and whatever she said was lost to the muffled ringing in his ears. Buh? She stood there, her mouth slightly parted, waiting. This wasn’t how this was supposed to work. He had a routine, he met people, he disappointed them, they learned to leave him the hell alone. Sure he was making an effort with her, reluctant to burn this bridge as quickly, but it was only a matter of time. A matter of time. He was such an idiot. He pulled back and saw her face crumple and it hurt so much he shoved himself out the door ignoring the protesting whine of the hinges. He breathed in the icy night air deep into his lungs holding it in just long enough to hurt before throwing himself into the dark of the forest towards home.

When Shane saw that first pang in her eyes he knew he had gone to far. She was crushed of course, it had been stupid of him to let things get so out of hand. It started out so slowly with the gifts and the small chats at the bar so how was he to know what was happening. What could she see in him? He obviously had no future. He came to Pelican town so things wouldn’t change, so time would stand still, and now this had happened. Now she was nowhere to be found. Burying herself in the mines or out late furiously chopping down trees. The thunk thunk thunk sound driving into his head at what seemed like all hours. It made the back of his teeth ache but he had no right to complain, not that anyone else noticed.

She would understand eventually, when she had come to her senses and found someone she truly deserved. He could take that. He was already in hell. Their relationship had reached the same breaking point as all his others, he had just got there differently is all. Now things were as they should be with her off building her new life and him dying a little each day.

Something restless ate at him now. He tried to throw himself back into his routine of work, the bar, and stuffing his face with pizza but it wasn’t the same. Everywhere he went she was not. His voice sounded raw everytime he spoke which was admittedly not often and even less so now without her. Everyone else apparently had taken the hint to leave if him alone long ago. If only she had as well.

He spent less and less time anywhere but in his bed where he tossed and turned and sweated out the nights. The arrival of Spring didn’t bring him any relief. She was still avoiding him and now the warmer days and bright colors seemed to mock him. It was Friday again and he was off work this time slowly shrugging of his jacket trying not to count how many days it had been but the number pounded its way into his brain over and over again anyway. He went to the Stardrop to try and gain some normalcy by throwing back some beers, but he had to leave after three feeling dizzy and sick and ashamed about not able to take his eyes off the doors.

Shane found himself on the lake dock in Cindersap forest. It was a bad choice considering they had shared a beer here what seemed like ages ago. But he settled in heavily anyway. He wondered if that was when it all started. Her showing up when he was too weak and lonely to tell her to fuck off. She obviously didn’t care for him much before that, which was what Shane had wanted, but after that meeting she had softened somehow. He put up his hood against the night chill and stared up at the bright stars until his vision wavered and they blurred into the black of the night. Shane felt like the whole word was tilting back and forth and that any minute now the dark enormity of the lake would rise up and flip over him. Isn’t this what he wanted? Was this finally the end he had been admittedly halfassedly working towards? He was sweating again and his heart was jangling in his chest in a way that couldn’t be good.

He closed his eyes trying to calm himself down but instead just felt bounded in with the farm above him and to his feet the forest. There were rumors about Cindersap, about strange magics and stranger inhabitants but he knew that when drunk and despairing any darkness seemed too real. His breathing had calmed but now he was hyper aware of the shadows under the trees. They seemed tangible...looming even. Was there always quite so many pines this close to the lake?

Uneasy, he pulled himself to his feet ready to head back when a THUNK THUNK THUNK rang out from the farm. All the tension he had felt came back in a flash and startled he turned from the lights of Marine’s and sprinted off deeper into the forest. Bushes and trees grabbed at him from all sides tearing at his skin. He lost his footing and stumbled down a ravine getting a face full of pine needles. He openly sobbed now at least as much as could tear out of his already overtaxed lungs. He felt his foot give way in some leafy muck and he crashed into the ground. He lay there on his back for a few minutes heaving in great gulps of air. Resigned and too exhausted to attempt getting up Shane curled into a ball and passed out almost immediately.

_Perhaps he dreamed of green._

What Shane remembered was a night tossing and turning and thinking of the past, but the dreams were there.

_Green is the color of life, the color of spring._

Of his youth, his dreams, his friends. The day he was made a godfather. The day he made the team. Little Jas. Charlie. Marnie.

_There are darker shades of green, the colors of decay._

He thought about the day he got injured and realized it was over for him. The friends, and lovers, and the scholarships that just dried up when the physical therapy didn’t take. Jas’s parents and how unfair it all was. His Joja job. Morris looking down at him. Him having to admit defeat and bring Jas here and beg his aunt to take them in. Swearing he would work hard. The shame of having to admit he was drinking his paychecks.

_Green is the color of renewal. Of the forest. It appears to be forever and unchanging._

Shane dug his hands into the pine needles and felt the earth. The trees fall and grow and fall again. Each one individual are together the forest. He felt his heart beat slow and steady against his skin down into the earth like a drum. Dawn was breaking and the pines were exhaling mist. Shane knew that underneath him a vast underground forest of the roots was moving water and nutrients skyward. For a second he was disoriented thinking he was clinging just underneath the surface of the real forest.

_Green is the color of change._

Shane awoke to a tapping sound. He startled thinking it was the distant sound of the ax but realized it was only a woodpecker. He was mostly dry by now and curled up on a bed of pine needles. Some had gotten into his mouth during the night and their bitter piney flavor was still ck on his teeth. He was...relaxed. He exhaled completely and let his weight be completely supported by the ground. The air was cold but brisk. The mist beginning to dissipate. He closed his eyes and listened to the wind sifting through the needles. Unbidden the farmer came to mind, the tingle of her thumb moving across his palm. He almost jerked up, almost stopped himself. But he was safe here and let himself think of what could be. Of dinners and flowers and his head beneath her neck breathing her in. Electricity and tiny kisses. Spine tingling warm. He rolled on his back and spread out. His eyes closed. A great warmth rose in his chest. He thought perhaps it was the sun, but he slipped back into sleep before he worked up the will to open his eyes. After all he had a lot of work to do, but for now he deserved to rest.

**Author's Note:**

> Another short where things all of a sudden go OFF.THE.RAILS. Is magic realism without realism just magic? Exactly how much time did I spend researching punny chicken names? Will my Shane magnus opus ever get finished? STAY TUNED


End file.
